Day 2 What happened at Sellers School today?

[PillowThrowDecor]

We're dying to hear about the new connections you made today!

[neatTreats]

I'm wondering if I'm the only one having this problem.  When I click on the link on the left for "Sellers' Bootcamp", there is nothing under assignments.  If I go into "Message Board" and click Sellers' Bootcamp then there's a link for the assignment but for that day only.  I can't seem to access the one for the Day 1 assignment any longer.    

Pam

[PillowThrowDecor]

I will email Day 1 to your email address. I'm not having that problem but I do know that the list of assignments loads really slowly sometimes.  No worries!

[CanadianRockiesArt]

Good morning  

Here's what I have today:

1) Craigslist - Question: Can you give us a sample of the wording you have used and that seems to work for you on Craiglist so that your ad doesn't get removed? I'm not sure how to word it to be honest. Thanks


2) Create a new listing in your store - I did 5 yesterday, as I like to have full "rows" in my display (yeah, I know, I'm nuts), so I will do 5 more listings in a couple of days. Don't want to have it all up at once. I don't feel that my pictures or listings need much tweaking anymore. I've been working at this for a long time and come a long way.

3) Twittering my listings: I already do this

4) Adding people to follow - Since I've been on Twitter a fairly long time, I have a lot of people that I'm following and I add a few more each day as part of my routine.

I don't like to add a truckload of people all in one shot. I also try to add people that just post interesting stuff and that has nothing to do with Crafts - I am trying to attract new buyers, not new crafters to my twitter feed.

The thing with selling jewelry in particular is that there is sooooooooo many jewelry sellers out there, they seldom buy from other jewelry sellers unless the person makes totally different stuff or things that the jewelry maker cannot make themselves, etc. So, I try to have a lot of different folks from different walks of life in the people that I follow instead of just following crafters/artisans. I do follow some (like I'm following all of you here of course), but you gotta go outside that 'group' if you catch my drift. Just my own opinion here

5) Handing out business cards. Working on that

Later!
Nathalie

[GalleriaLinda]

1) Craigslist – will do this weekend

2)Create a new listing in your store - just got 2 online!

3)After you have created your “new listing” you are going to Twitter - it twitterfeeds to my GalleriaLinda twitter, but will tweet with my IndieCEO account and my Linda account!

4) Add 50 names of people you want to “follow”.  I have been on a mission to bump up my followers.

CanadianRockiesARt said: So, I try to have a lot of different folks from different walks of life in the people that I follow instead of just following crafters/artisans.

This is good reminder for me!

5) Get your business cards out and explain to your family - no cards, family far away - SO, committing to get cards ordered this weekend and disperse.

[PillowThrowDecor]

You've all accomplished so much already i better get peddling to keep up.

I did post an ad on Craigslist and here it is

https://post.craigslist.org/van/S/art/none/x/2EFVr2KMJ5IuuRF6/izpYd

I am careful not to post an active link because I am afraid of spam.  I did reread the Terms of Conditions and I think we are alright to post our site but not ...

k) that constitutes or contains  "affiliate marketing," "link referral code,"
"junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or unsolicited
commercial advertisement;

They also say...

4. THIRD PARTY CONTENT, SITES, AND SERVICES

The craigslist site and Content available through the Service may contain
features and functionalities that may link you or provide you with access
to third party content which is completely independent of craigslist,
including web sites, directories, servers, networks, systems, information
and databases, applications, software, programs, products or services,
and the Internet as a whole.  

Your interactions with organizations and/or individuals found on or through the Service, including payment and delivery of goods or services, and any other terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such dealings, are solely between you and such organizations and/or individuals.  You should make whatever investigation you feel necessary or appropriate before proceeding with any online or offline transaction with any of these third parties.  

You agree that craigslist shall not be responsible or liable for any loss or
damage of any sort incurred as the result of any such dealings. If there is
a dispute between participants on this site, or between users and any third party, you understand and agree that craigslist is under no obligation to become involved. In the event that you have a dispute with one or more other users, you hereby release craigslist, its officers, employees, agents and successors in rights from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind or nature, known or unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way related to such disputes and / or our service. If you are a California resident, you waive California Civil Code Section 1542, which says: "A general release does not extend to claims which the creditor does not know or suspect to exist in his favor at the time of executing the release, which, if known by him must have materially affected his settlement with the debtor."

[Naturliche]

heloooo!

starting up the laundry....

I re-listed some product, I wont have anything new till at least next week.

I also started adding more to my twitter.  
I am actually trying to add people by location an relevance.  I'd like to try and get more Canadian followers, and also people who do crafts like make jewelry, sew, pottery, etc.  Just staying away from adding people who's last post says "get 10,000 followers now!"  Even more disturbing, I saw quite a few followers on some people's lists advertising s*xual rendezvous and using crass language.  I'm staying away from those.  I doubt it makes a difference, but for now, I'm trying.. lol

[PillowThrowDecor]

Luxe Chic Geek Pillow

Get your geek on with this decidedly nerdy pillow from PillowThrowDecor. These are handmade by me in my professional drapery workroom in Abbotsford BC. The Geek Pillow is part of my Luxe and Found Collection, which focuses on eco-chic pillow designs that utilize remnants, upcycled materials and other "throwaway" items. This cute little guy is made with remnant Ralph Lauren linen fabric and A/V cables, and you can purchase pillow inserts made with Ecofill luxury fiber fill (formerly PET bottles) separately. Geek's family which includes Super Geek, Little Sis Maddie, and a really nerdy older sister available also. They have so much character I swear they can talk! All are originals so no two are the same. Safe secure online store. Price is Canadian Dollars and applicable taxes may apply for BC Canadian residents. Check them out at at my icraftgifts.com site or pillowthrowdecor (dot)com or just email me at pillowthrowdecor (at) gmail (dot) com . 100's of fabrics to chose from for your other custom orders.

______________

I know it is a bit wordy but I have had people respond to ads like this asking about custom orders so it does work

[PillowThrowDecor]

I've just recently started twittering and I have about 400 followers.

The ads for 1000 a day certainly caught my eye because I am a "want-it-now" kinda person! But I realized what it was about.  

I am trying to follow people that I think would either use or like to recommend my pillows such as decorators and designers. And I like following the nerdy types that talk about all the technical stuff that I eventually would like to learn.  My problem is that I get too engrossed in all these tweets.  I'm like a kid in front of the telly watching cartoons all day.

I am the worst person to maintain  discipline... arggggh!

I have already made some good connections but no sales yet.  

I'm gonna keep at it though!

Remember to write fascinating subject lines and first lines in our Bootcamp forum posts as they feed onto twitter as do our new products too!!  That's where a lot of our views come from as icraft has over 1000 followers.

Christine

[Northern Girl Jewelry]

Today:

Did a Craigslist ad.

Listed a new pair of earrings.

Posted the listing on my facebook fan page.

Twitter:  Have an account, don't use it.  Did start following about 5 new people.  Will need to figure out what to tweet, because I don't want to just spam people with listings.  Not that I have many people following me right now...  I'm not sure that Twitter will be the vehicle for me (I much prefer facebook), but I will give it a try during bootcamp and then decide.  

Tried to do local business listing today, but the sites I found all require physical street addresses.  I don't want to include my home address or phone number.  Have you guys found some that don't require this info?

[designsbydebra]

Well for me I
1 posted 4 cloned listings on icraft
2 posted 3 ads on Craigslist
3 Twittered my icraft shop this morning and will again this evening
4 checked out the Langley business directory and another cofar.ca (I wondering do I need an actual business license to be in these directories or will I get a visit from the local government wanting me to get a license?)
5 I'm currently reading a book called "marketing and selling your handmade jewelry"by Viki Lareau.
6 I'm waiting for step by step instructions on adding a signature to my email(Trish said she would help me out)
7 going to get more business cards printed
caught up with the updates from others on this forum
That's it for me on day 2 of Bootcamp#2
Deb  
icraftgifts.com/designsbydebra

[designsbydebra]

Got my email signatures done!
A big Thank You to Trish for all her hard work putting the step by step instruction together for me!
Deb
icraftgifts.com/designsbydebra

And I figured out how to do add the signatures in gmail
Just click on settings and scroll down to signatures and add them in the box provided. No html or code required just your name and then any web addresses that you want to come up after your name.

[PillowThrowDecor]

Maybe Trish could post her detailed instructions here or in the main forum.

Thanks so much Trish.

Where did Paul (the jewelry maker) go??? paul was having a tough time doing the signature thing too.  good to know thCheers

Christine

[PillowThrowDecor]

38 Twitter bits and tips
1. Open an account and use Twitter Search to listen for for your shop  
    name, the competitons' names, and words that relate to    
     your business or potential customers.
   2. Add a your picture or your shop avatar.  Keep branding in mind.
   3. Tweet people about THEIR interests, too.
   4. Point out interesting things about your business not just about you.
   5. Share links to neat things in your community.
   6. Be helpful.  Give tips.
   7. Don't be spammy about your products.
   8. Tweet about other people and their space.
   9. Be human and get personal.
   11. Instead of answering the question, “What are you doing?”, answer
     the question, “What has your attention?”
  12. pair up with someone else and Retweet each other.
  13. When promoting a blog post, ask a question or explain what’s coming next, instead of just dumping a link.
  14. Ask questions, take a poll ask for opinions.
  15. Follow interesting people. Find out who they follow and follow those people as well.
  16. Tweet about other people’s stuff. Make people feel good.
  17. When you DO talk about your stuff, make it useful. Give advice, blog posts, pictures, etc.
  18. Visit people's websites or blogs in their bios, leave comment and tweet about your comment or that blog.
  19. Don’t blow your own horn too much.
  20. Blow other's peoples horn.
  21. You don’t have to read every tweet.
  22. You don’t have to reply to every @ tweet directed to you
  23. Use direct messages for 1-to-1 conversations if there is no value for the whole world to read it.
  24. Use services like Twitter Search to make sure you see if someone’s talking about you.
  25. 3rd party programs like Tweetdeck and Twhirl make it a lot easier to manage Twitter.
  26. Don't play at tweeting when you have serious work to do.
  28. Learn quickly to use the URL shortening tools like TinyURL so your
        tweet is still short enough to RETWEET.
  29. If someone doesn't like your tweets suggest they unfollow you.
  30. Commenting on others’ tweets, and retweeting what others have to
        say is a great way to build networking friends.
 31. Twitter can be addictive don't let it take over your life
  32. Twitter  away from your creating time.
  33. Have a plan about what and to whom you are tweeting as it relates  
        to your marketing.
   33. Twitter doesn’t replace email and other methods of marketing.
   34. Twitter helps one organize great, instant meetups (tweetups).
    35. Twitter breaks news faster than other sources.
    36. Twitter brings great minds together, for brainstorming.
    37. Twitter gives you great opportunities to learn something new  
          everyday.
    38. twitter gives you great opportunities to teach new things to many  
         other people very quickly.

[Zs Knees]

Got a bit of sewing done tonight... but I'm not letting myself stay up past 1 this time. Last BC I was walking around like a zombie half the time

I wanted to tell people who are ordering business cards online to be careful of the size of the text. I didn't pay any attention to the size number, I was just looking at the layout and relative size. And I received cards that you would need a magnifying glass to read! :cry:  Oh well! Don't make the same mistake!

Posted on CL (and looked for a new job while I was at it-- my company is going under...)

I also don't want to just use twitter to spam people... When you say "don't be spammy", how do you not?
I'm working on finding moms to follow me... got a couple so far.

[Zs Knees]

I'm wondering if I'm the only one having this problem.  When I click on the link on the left for "Sellers' Bootcamp", there is nothing under assignments.  If I go into "Message Board" and click Sellers' Bootcamp then there's a link for the assignment but for that day only.  I can't seem to access the one for the Day 1 assignment any longer.    

Pam

Hi Pam, this is what I do: Click Message Board (not Sellers' Bootcamp) on the left column. [I only ever click on Sellers' Bootcamp when I want to view all campers' icons and look at their shops]

Then scroll down to the Seller's Bootcamp section from there, and click on Daily Assignments.

From there you can get into any day's assignments you want.

Hope this helps?

[Trish]

Yesterday was quite a reach - I had a plateful of things work related that I had to accomplish - multiple problems, and trying to fit in the bootcamp assignments too. Made for a whirlwind of a day!

Anyway...on to the assignments.

Post an ad - I did, but not on Craigslist - I put one on the klipperclassifieds that Linda had found. I had registered the day before, and got an email from them, wondering if I had a problem posting, since I hadn't put up an ad yet. Good customer service there! Putting an ad on there was easy - and they give you a $10 credit to use to add more photos (you get one for free) etc. Liking this better than Craigslist.

I did add a new product to my shop. I spent some time trying to make the photos look their best using my Paint Shop Pro XI program - and was pleased with what I accomplished with them.

I'm not sure if I Twittered about it - it was so busy yesterday! I will do that today, and add it to my Facebook page. Normally, I do that as a matter of course.

I didn't add 50 names to follow on Twitter, but I try and find and follow new people every day - looking right now to follow all the bootcampers, to spread the word. I do what someone here suggested - finding people with like interests, not necessarily crafters, who might like what I make too - and with whom I can interact.

I use Tweetdeck all the time! I discovered it from someone I know on Twitter, and really like it, because I can re-tweet with a click and hitting enter - and it has quite a few features that Twitterfox didn't have. I recommend it!

Haven't passed out many cards - simply because I don't get out much ..LOL! When I do go out, my hubby is usually with me. I'll have to give them to him, he's much better at having the nerve to give them out!

All in all - a GOOD day!

Trish    

[CanadianRockiesArt]

Luxe Chic Geek Pillow

Get your geek on with this decidedly nerdy pillow from PillowThrowDecor. These are handmade by me in my professional drapery workroom in Abbotsford BC. The Geek Pillow is part of my Luxe and Found Collection, which focuses on eco-chic pillow designs that utilize remnants, upcycled materials and other "throwaway" items. This cute little guy is made with remnant Ralph Lauren linen fabric and A/V cables, and you can purchase pillow inserts made with Ecofill luxury fiber fill (formerly PET bottles) separately. Geek's family which includes Super Geek, Little Sis Maddie, and a really nerdy older sister available also. They have so much character I swear they can talk! All are originals so no two are the same. Safe secure online store. Price is Canadian Dollars and applicable taxes may apply for BC Canadian residents. Check them out at at my icraftgifts.com site or pillowthrowdecor (dot)com or just email me at pillowthrowdecor (at) gmail (dot) com . 100's of fabrics to chose from for your other custom orders.

______________

I know it is a bit wordy but I have had people respond to ads like this asking about custom orders so it does work

I love it - the wording is perfect

Thanks for sharing the example and showing us your ad. Now I have a better idea of the wording (and I'll use the arts & craft section too). I'll get one set up this weekend.

Nat

[CanadianRockiesArt]

Today:

Did a Craigslist ad.

Listed a new pair of earrings.

Posted the listing on my facebook fan page.

Twitter:  Have an account, don't use it.  Did start following about 5 new people.  Will need to figure out what to tweet, because I don't want to just spam people with listings.  Not that I have many people following me right now...  I'm not sure that Twitter will be the vehicle for me (I much prefer facebook), but I will give it a try during bootcamp and then decide.  

Tried to do local business listing today, but the sites I found all require physical street addresses.  I don't want to include my home address or phone number.  Have you guys found some that don't require this info?

Just a couple of comments here:

Twitter brings me the most views, by far, to my Etsy shop (I have it set up that my listings and relistings automatically feed to Twitter via http://twitterfeed.com/ and that brings me the most views.

The other day I listed a new pair of earrings on Etsy and Etsy hadn't released the 'batch' (batch uploading) to Etsy yet so it wasn't showing in the replacement results yet, and it went to twitter right away, got 1 single view and they sold. They sold within 5 minutes of being listed.

twitter also brings me visitors to my blog, again, via the automatic tweeting with twitterfeed.

My husband has been blogging for years and he couldn't be bothered to use Twitter for the longest time. He has a big following (political blog... snooze........) and he just recently started having his blog posts feeding onto Twitter and he's getting way more readers than before.

Just thought I'd let you know what we're experiencing using Twitter.

As for putting down our street address, phone number, etc. I *never* provide that (hence why I haven't found a way to list to local online 'directories' (there is a business directory for Calgary, but they ask for your physical address) - it's not safe to put down your address because of the risk of theft. I use a commercial mailbox (UPS Store/Mailboxes Etc) for all my deliveries and for the return address on my packages so that nobody figures out where I live. I have loads of valuable jewelry components and tools, etc. The last thing I want is to advertise exactly where I live. I don't mind giving out my cell phone number if that's all that there is required, but nothing else.

Just my 2 cents,
Nathalie

[Northern Girl Jewelry]

Nathalie,

Thanks for the feedback about twitter.  I'm struggling with it and just don't feel comfortable with it yet.  But if I give it a good try, that could change.  Facebook felt odd at the beginning too (and I was using it to stay in touch with friends), but I now really enjoy using facebook.

I'm glad I'm not the only one struggling with the local business listings.  I think they are set up to feature B&M stores and so not really set for an online business...

[CanadianRockiesArt]

Nathalie,

...I'm glad I'm not the only one struggling with the local business listings.  I think they are set up to feature B&M stores and so not really set for an online business...

Yes, that's my thinking also. It's more geared towards B&M shops instead of virtual world shops (when are they going to get in the New Age of business?) I tell ya.... makes you wonder.

[CanadianRockiesArt]

Nathalie,

Thanks for the feedback about twitter.  I'm struggling with it and just don't feel comfortable with it yet.  But if I give it a good try, that could change.  ...

Just to give you another idea of the power of Twitter for your shop:

I just listed 2 new pairs of earrings here in my iCraft shop (this is Sunday morning 9:30 AM Mountain time), and I listed the first pair, then twitted it right away (it has 0 views on it) via the 'add this' gizmo on the listing, and within less than 1 minute, I got 42 views.

42!!!

Less than 1 minute after having listed it on a Sunday morning.  

I don't know if it will result in sales, but now, there 42 people that have found out about my iCraft shop and found out about me... and that was free

I don't get those kinds of views from FB (I don't like FB......) I get better views on Flickr than FB... but twitter rocks and it's so easy - you'll get used to it.

Nathalie  

[PillowThrowDecor]

What this "add this" gizmo???


She said....
via the 'add this' gizmo on the listing, and within less than 1 minute, I got 42 views.

42!!!


Wow 42 views are awesome!

[CanadianRockiesArt]

What this "add this" gizmo???


She said....
via the 'add this' gizmo on the listing, and within less than 1 minute, I got 42 views.

42!!!


Wow 42 views are awesome!

The 'Bookmark' thingy that you see on your iCraft shop and on each of your iCraft listings? - it's a gizmo made by "add this" - if you hoover your mouse over the 'bookmark' thingy in the 'other options' area of your listing (under your pictures), you will see the 'bookmark' thing. Hoover your mouse, and it will open up a window and you have the Twitter icon right in there

Click on that, and it will take you to your Twitter with the link to your item, and you can just post your tweet!

Hope this helps
Nathalie